New multicultural salon opens in D1 

The Culture Collective, a salon that caters to all ethnic groups, has opened on Store Street in the heart of Dublin. The business hopes to “make luxurious salon experiences more attainable to the black community”, its owner says.

The business offers a range of beauty treatments such as hair care services and styling including bridal hair, braids, wigs and hair extensions, and a range of nail services too.

Candice La Verne, the founder and owner, is a Trinidadian-born hair stylist who started off with her sister company ‘Her.Hustle’, which offers braiding services and ‘Her.Hustle boutique’ which sells hair accessories for all ethnic groups.  

What inspired you to start up The Culture Collective? 

“Growing up I’ve always loved the idea of going to an upscale & professional black hair & beauty salon like the ones you’d see in the USA or UK. I’ve been in the hair game for almost five years now. I very quickly grew to learn that in Ireland this wasn’t attainable. I’d often get clients rushing from a lash appointment to their hair appointment with me then rushing to a nail appointment afterwards, they were travelling all over Dublin to get their beauty needs sorted. This is what inspired me to start the Culture Collective – to my knowledge there wasn’t one upscale one stop hair & beauty multicultural salon that offers diversity and inclusion all hair types and also nails, lashes and make up under one roof!” 

What is your goal for the salon? 

“The goal of The Culture Collective salon is to show Ireland that we, the Afro community can have professional and promising salons. Also to start a hair academy in the salon that will offer internationally accredited Afro hairdressing courses. To show young black hair stylists that being a hairstylist in Ireland can be a viable choice for them. Currently Ireland’s educational hair industry doesn’t cater to or include the Afro hair industry. I wasn’t able to become accredited in Afro hairdressing in Ireland because there weren’t any courses that included Afro hairdressing to the curriculum.” 

What was your mission at the start of the company? 

“My mission is to embrace the beauty of diversity. To make luxurious salon experiences more attainable to the black community. To work collectively as a team alongside other amazingly talented hair and beauty business owners. To encourage the afro community to embrace and understand their natural hair. To be able to cater to all women or men no matter their background. Most importantly to bring an empowering & sacred space to our cultural community”. 

Why did you open it in the current location specifically? 

“I’ve done hair in many locations, Blanchardstown, Tallaght, Drogheda, Dublin city centre just to name a few & at one point I was also a mobile hairstylist. I found that the city centre is hands down the BEST location for a salon. I’ve had clients coming from different counties in Ireland, Cork, Galway, Limerick, Sligo and even Belfast, just to do their hair with me, all while I was hopping from location to location, and they still travelled out to me. So to make life a little easier for them I’ve based myself in Dublin city centre because no matter where in Ireland you are coming from, on public transport it is only one bus or train into us. It’s been one of the best decisions I’ve made for myself and my ever growing clientele.” 

Do you hope to expand the salon in other locations within Ireland/ internationally? 

“I definitely would love to start by expanding the Culture Collective to other counties in Ireland to bring more luxurious salon experiences to the black communities & also to create more job opportunities in the hair industry for especially young upcoming black hair stylists.” 

 
For tutorials, product recommendations and inspiration, follow the Culture Collective salon on Instagram